To The Top Turnbuckle
by AbstractAlexia
Summary: Emily Pierson was a WWE Diva. She climbed the ranks in WWE, but she quit. She wanted a new challenge that didn't involve the same routine every week. Her new challenge, her new life is as TNA's newest Knockout, Ember. She'll encounter hardships, conflicts, a romance with a certain Charismatic Enigma, and of course, achievements. Can she rise to the top of the TNA Knockout Division?
1. Ember, the New Knockout

**A/N**: Hello ^.^ This is a new fanfiction I decided to write because of my love for wrestling. About 4 or 5 years ago, I started my obsession with WWE/TNA (my love for Jeff Hardy made me follow him to TNA, never left since). My first fanfiction ever was a Shannon Moore fic called "Moore Tough Love." (Never published online). I was young, my attention span was really short and so I lost my train of thought often, lost pieces of the story and never finished it. After rediscovering TNA a few weeks ago and reading other wrestling fanfics, I decided to write this story.

To those who have read my first story, "Necessity of Virtue," this story will not be like that one. There will be more mature content and language involved every so often so please be aware.

I hope you will enjoy this new story, this new adventure and life of Emily Audrey Pierson from the bottom of the bunch to the top turnbuckle.

**_Disclaimer:_ **I do not own WWE or TNA. Neither do I own any of the wrestlers or anything else associated with the two companies. I do, however, own my character/wrestler Emily Audrey Pierson and any other characters that I will state are mine throughout the story.

* * *

"Jackie! I'm heading out!" Emily Audrey Pierson said to her co-worker Jackie Maxwell as she makes her way out of the door of her place of employment, the high quality club in New York City called The Color Circle. Her co-worker and friend, Jackie, runs to her with arms wide open as she smiles with a small tear running down her face.

"Oh, sweetie," Jackie said as she brings Emily into her arms and holds her tightly, "I'm gonna miss you. You better call, girl or else I'll find you, I swear. You know I will," Jackie said as she looked sternly at her friend. After glancing at her face, Jackie's look softened as she pulled Emily in for a hug.

"Oh, I'm going to miss you so much." Emily smiled against Jackie's shoulder and nodded.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Jackie." Jackie released her from her hug and took a good look at her friend. She sighed and brushed a strand of hair away from her face and smiled at her.

"I can't believe you're doing this again, after all that you had to deal with before. It's only been a few months, are you sure you want to do this?" When Emily nodded, smiling sincerely, Jackie nodded as well knowing fully well that she couldn't change her mind.

"Alright," Jackie began, "You be careful though, I'll be watching you, got that?" Emily smiled, her eyes resembling half crescents as if they smiled as well.

"I'll be careful, Jackie, I promise. I have to go, I don't want to be late," she said. Jackie nodded, giving her one final hug and then told her to hurry off out of the door. Emily re-adjusted her black leather purse onto her shoulder as she said her final goodbyes to her long time co-worker. She walked out to her red Prius, put her purse in the passenger seat as she proceeded to get into the driver's seat. She took a deep breath, taking out a mirror from her purse and looking at her appearance over again.

"It'll be fine," she said as she released the breath she's been holding, "Just be brave, ok? Put a smile on that face and don't be nervous." She forced a smile on her face, hoping that it would then become real, and then turned her head one way and then the other way in the mirror. Her natural makeup was fine, her hazel eyes shined brightly, her curled red dyed hair let loose that cascaded down to her shoulders, everything was fine. All that was left was to drive there. She took another deep breath, put her key into the ignition, turned it and felt her car purr and come alive.

* * *

After driving for half an hour (due to the horrible NYC traffic), her heart beating all the way there, Emily finally made it to her location, The Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom. As she parked her car, taking the keys out of the ignition, she took in another deep breath.

"Let's go," she said to herself in soft whisper as she released her breath, "Let's do this." After her quick pep talk, she left her car and walked toward the building in the evening N.Y weather. Emily had no idea why she was so nervous. If anything, she should be flowing with confidence. But, her heart wouldn't stop beating against her chest. Her nerves always got the best of her. She walked into the Ballroom through the back door. She looked around as she walked around the hallway of backstage. Nice job Emily, she scolded herself. It's not even 10 minutes and you've already gotten yourself lost like a little puppy. Just great. She sighed and ran a hand through her glossy red hair in frustration. Emily continued to walk around (she swore she was going in circles, the place was not that big), until she finally received help, by casually bumping into someone and falling onto her ass.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry," Emily exclaimed, still splat on the floor. Emily heard a male voice directed to her. "Oh. Emily, just the woman I was looking for." Emily looked up, and saw a hand reaching for her, she took it and was picked up and back on her feet. Emily smiled instantly as she looked at the person who she bumped into.

"It's ok, Kurt," Emily said to the TNA Executive Director. "I was looking everywhere for you. I'm glad I found you," she said, chuckling awkwardly. Kurt Angle smiled at Emily.

"Well then, let's get to business. Come on, follow me." Kuet gestured with a flick of his head for Emily to follow the President to his office of the day. With each step, Emily grew more secure of her decision. Her head turned from one side to the other, watching as both Knockouts and Superstars were walking, getting ready for the rehearsal of the show.

Kurt stopped at the third door on the left in the long hallway, he opened the door and gestured for Emily to go in first. With each step hitting the floor, Emily walked in and stepped aside so that Kurt can make his way to his desk. The TNA Executive Director of Wrestling Ops told her to take a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk and Emily did as she was told, sinking into the cold black leather.

"I was ecstatic when you called me," Kurt said smiling and sitting at his desk, "I couldn't believe it." Emily, embarrassed, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Believe it," she said, chuckling, "I've decided to move to TNA."

"Well, we welcome you with open arms. Let me just gonna tell you how it's going to go down today." Emily nodded and waited for Kurt Angle to continue. As he began to open his mouth, Kurt was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said in a loud, powerful voice. The door knob slowly turned clockwise and the brown wooden door opened. With each second, the door opened a little more, revealing the person who was coming through.

"You called me, boss?" a strong New York accent asked. Emily turned and looked over her left shoulder, she smiled sweetly at the familiar face.

"Oh ho, look who it is," Mark LoMonaco said, chuckling as a smile crept up on his face. "It's the Emily Audrey Pierson. Damn, its been too long," Mark said to her, and gave her a big bear hug as she rose from her seat and open her arms awaiting it. She wrapped her arms around his large build and hugged him tightly. It's been far too long, Emily thought.

"Alright, alright. Come on now, we have business to discuss." The two released each other and sat in their respective seats across from the Executive Kurt Angle. He smiled, looking at the two and letting the memories flood in, sighing as the sudden sense of nostalgia overcame him.

"How long has it been since we were all in WWE together?" Kurt asked. Emily shrugged.

"I don't know, but too long. I missed seeing you guys and all my other friends that were with me when I debuted," Emily said.

"Last I saw ya, you were doin' just fine, Emily, strong as ever," Mark said, ruffling her hair as if she was a small child. Mark, or Bubba Ray Dudley in WWE, and Emily, simply known as Emily in the other company, were close in WWE. He took the role as father figure in her life when she first debuted at 19 and made sure she did well in everything, whether it was her promos or her matches. He made sure that his self proclaimed 'little girl' was well-liked, more importantly well-respected, in the world of wrestling. It upset her when Mark told her he was leaving the company, it was as if her own father was leaving her. She couldn't fight properly and lost many matches. She was depressed but Mark told her before he left to be strong. She, according to Mark, had to make her mark on the WWE Universe. Eventually, she managed to pick herself back up eventually, and fought her way to the top.

"She was spectacular! A Four time WWE Diva's Champion is sitting in front of us, Mark, that's not just fine." Emily blushed at the bragging they were doing.

"Guys," she pleaded," Stop, I'm embarrassed." Emily giggled, wrapping both her hands around her waist.

"No need to be embarrassed, sweetheart!" Mark exclaimed, "You were amazing, red hot!"

"And you'll do even better here on TNA," Kurt added, earning a pair of wide eyes from Mark, his mouth slightly agape.

"No way, you gotta be kidding me," he said, pausing then continued, looking at Emily with the biggest smile, "My little girl's coming to TNA?" Emily, holding in another short laugh. nodded frantically looking at the man who has acted as her father in the wrestling business. Mark let out the biggest laugh, and got up from his seat, pulling her in for a hug. The family was reunited once again, she thought, enjoying the warm feeling from Mark's hug.

"She's debuting today," interrupted Kurt, catching both of their attention as they separated.

"Today?" asked Emily. Kurt nodded.

"Yes today, in a promo with other Knockouts. That's where Mark comes in," Kurt explained. The two old friends listened intently at their boss' words, as he spoke to them, "Emily will be walking and the Beautiful People will come up to you and act, you know, bitchy since you're the new girl. You'll just stand there and take it," he paused. "Then Mark will come by and save you." Mark and Emily nodded, understanding the scenario that they had to do. Kurt then spoke solely to his newest Knockout.

"Emily, there are some people who know who are, there are a lot of WWE fans who watch TNA. But the majority of people don't know you here, so you have to start completely fresh." Emily nodded, agreeing completely.

"Fresh is good. I don't want to be Emily, the WWE Diva anymore," she started, looking at both of them and smiling, "I want to be Ember, the TNA Knockout." Mark smiled, taking her into his arms again.

"That's my girl!"

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed the first installment of "To the Top Turnbuckle" ! It is just to introduce Emily and some of her background so please wait for more! If you liked it, please review and follow the story! I really appreciate it :)


	2. Her First Promo

**A/N**: Here is the new chapter, I'm sorry that it took so long. I hope that you enjoy ^.^

I was planning on going along with the weekly TNA show, the storylines and promos, etc. But, I won't, simply for the reason that I don't watch it every Thursday. I miss episodes, sadly, and so I won't be caught up enough to flow with the story. The roster will be up to date and some situations will be the same (maybe!) however, for the most part it will be my imagination.

For the record, I will be using the wrestlers' real name when they are not doing the show or just talking amongst themselves. However, when they are doing a promo, match, etc., I will be using their stage name if they have one. If you don't understand, keep reading and it'll be made clear.

**_Disclaimer:_ **I do not own WWE or TNA. Neither do I own any of the wrestlers or anything else associated with the two companies. I do, however, own my character/wrestler Emily Audrey Pierson and any other characters that I will state are mine throughout the story.

* * *

After her meeting with Kurt Angle, it was now time for Emily to meet some of the Knockouts. She, with Mark by her side, made her way to the Knockouts' locker room. Mark knocked first, his fists almost pounding on the door.

"Yes?" yelled a Knockout from the inside. The voice was muffled behind the door, Emily wasn't able to figure out who it was.

"Can I come in?" yelled Mark. There was a shuffling of feet within the room, and the silver metallic knob of the Knockouts' locker room began to open.

"Oh Mark, hey!" exclaimed Jamie Lynn, or Velvet Sky of the Beautiful People. She smiled sweetly in a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, a blue and pink striped spaghetti strapped top and pink flip tops. Jamie smiled sweetly as her eyes moved to Emily.

"Who's this?" Mark put his arm around Emily's shoulders and ruffled her hair.

"This is my little girl, Emily." Jamie's eyes brightened as she took her hand out and shook hands with Emily.

"Oh wow, it's nice to meet you! Mark talks so much about you. I almost didn't recognize you from how you look like in WWE." Emily smiled, her white teeth shining.

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm a big fan of you." Jamie touched her cheeks that felt as if they were burning.

"Psh, please! Emily is a big of mine? That's too hard to believe," she said. Mark, wanting to be part of the conversation again, cleared his throat. The two women looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Jamie, I heard you have a promo today." Jamie nodded, opening the door a little wider and the sight of other Knockouts came into view.

"Yes, with Lauren and I have a match with Gail later. Come in, come in, I'm sure the other Knockouts won't mind." As the two walked in, the other Knockouts began to look in their direction and smiled brightly.

"Hey, Mark," called Gail Kim as she sat on the black leather chair in the back of the locker room.

"Hey, Mark. Who's this? A new girlfriend?" said Lauren Williams, better known as Angelina Love to the TNA Universe as she stood next to her best friend, Jamie. Jamie shook her head and introduced Emily.

"No, Lauren. This is Mark's friend, -"

"Emily, Emily Pierson from the WWE," Lauren finished, smiling as she took a better look at the new girl. "I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. I never thought I'd meet you in person. Your matches were always the best, stellar really." Emily smiled and held out her hand to Lauren, they shook hands.

"Thank you, I didn't know wrestlers from TNA followed WWE. To be honest, I'm a big fan of all the Knockouts, of everyone," Emily admitted as the other Knockouts looked in her direction in awe and appreciation.

"Why are you here?" asked Ashley Cabot, or Madison Rayne. "Emily was at the top of her game in WWE."

"Probably visiting, right?" suggested Lauren. Mark shook his head and held his head up proudly.

"Nope, my baby girl is moving up in the ranks. She's coming to TNA."

"Wow, really?" exclaimed Jamie, "That's great! We need new talent!"

"Hey! Then, what am I?" sulked Satana Garrett, the newest TNA Knockout under the name Brittany. Jamie went to her and hugged her tightly.

"You know we love you, Satana."

"You'll be doin' the promo with Lauren and Emily and myself," continued Mark. The two of the Beautiful People jumped in delight.

"Oh, that's perfect!" Emily began to go over the promo, the same way that Kurt Angle did with her and Mark. She explained that the Beautiful People would find her walking in the halls and come up to her. They would begin to make fun of her and brag about themselves and Emily would stay silent and only stare at them, helpless. Mark would then come from down the hall and see this, coming up to them and intimidating the Beautiful People enough to make them leave. The two understood and were excited when the cameraman told them it was time to film the promo for tonight's show.

Emily walked down the hallway of TNA in her street clothes, looking around the small cramped hallway. On one side of the hallway, there were steel chairs lined up in stacks of two and on the other side there was the white bricked wall, today holding pictures of Knockouts as well as posters of upcoming TNA events. She looked around curiously, with wide eyes as she tried to avoid the camera that was secretly filming her for the promo, hidden in a corner. As she stopped to look at one TNA poster, she heard footsteps approach her, two sets of female feet.

"Well, well, well Velvet. Look what we have here," Emily heard Angelina Love say from behind her. She jumped in surprise, holding onto her heart that pumped harder from the scare. As she turned around, Emily saw the faces of Angelina Love and Velvet Sky smirking at her.

"Fresh meat," Velvet commented.

"You're the new girl?" Angelina complained, rolling her eyes and smugly looked at the new Knockout. "That's gonna be a problem. I mean, look at you, you're totally wrong material." Velvet nodded, reaching out and flicking Emily's red hair in disgust.

"Totally wrong. Just by looking at you, it's sad that you're even allowed in the building." Emily tossed her hair to one side of her head, looking at the two from their toes up to their head.

"What do you want?" Emily asked.

"Us?" Velvet said, gesturing at Angelina and herself, "We just wanted to meet the newbie," she continued as she poked Emily hard in the shoulder.

"To show you who's boss around here in the Knockout's Division. The Beautiful People are everything, we're the best," said the leader, Love, as she got closer to Emily, almost nose to nose.

"You're nothing, little girl. Nothing but-" Velvet's taunt was cut short.

"Hey, Hey, Hey, what's this?" The loud and New York accented voice of Bully Ray echoed in the small and cramped hallway. The Beautiful People looked at Bully, nervous and quickly took a step away from the new Knockout.

"O-Oh hey, Bully," stammered Angelina, "We're were just-"

"I know exactly what you were doin', Beautiful People. I'm not stupid. You two were bullying the new Knockout."

"I-It's not bullying, it's-"

"Shut it, gal," Bully said to the smaller Velvet Sky, then continued, "Ya know exactly what you were doin'. You think you the best, huh? Let me tell you two somethin', ya nothing, nothing if ya bully this girl. I'm Bully Ray for Chrissake, I think I know a 'lil something about bullyin'."

The girls remained silent, sneaking in glares at Emily as she stared at Bully Ray in amazement, as someone who protected her from the Beautiful People.

"Run along, shake your asses somewhere else," he said, shooing them. Angelina run a hand through her hair in frustration and stomped off with Velvet on her heels. Bully Ray chuckled at the sight, now looking at the new Knockout.

"You alright? Don't worry about them, they won't bug ya again," Bully Ray asked her. Emily nodded, smiling for the first time in the promo.

"Yeah, thanks."

"What's ya name, girl?"

"Call me Ember," she replied.

"Where ya from?"

"New York," she said with pride and earned and a wide smile from Bully Ray as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"That's what I like to hear. Us New Yorkers gotta stick together always, come on, you're with me now. We gotta toughen you up." With his arms still around her, Bully Ray walked off screen with Emily smiling.

* * *

With the TNA taping taking place now with a live audience, more wrestlers were now gathering in their respective dressing rooms. Matches were underway after a quick opening promo with Kurt Angle. The first match was a Number 1 contender's match for the X Division Title between Homicide and DJ Z. Emily watched from the safety of the Divas' Locker room. There was a knock on the door and Lauren, who was preparing for her match in 20 minutes, opened the door.

"Hey, Emily, you have a visitor," Lauren called out to her. Emily heard a familiar chuckle and turned away from the match. She turned and saw Mark smiling at her, a proud smile on his face.

"What's up, Mark?" she asked as she stood up from the couch.

"You met most of the Knockouts, I figure introduce you to some of the guys. They want to meet ya' too so come on," Mark said gesturing to the door with a flick of his head. Emily nodded and followed him out of the door, towards the mens' locker room. He knocked on the door, yelling through the door before walking in.

"Hey guys, lady coming in, tuck whatcha' got away or put some clothes on," Mark said as he walked in with Emily close by. There was a roar of laughter from the men, greeting Emily.

"Alright Em, these are the guys," Mark began, pointing to some of the men, either sweaty in their ring outfits, preparing for an upcoming match, or like her, are in their street clothes in support of their friends.

"Hey Emily, Mark told us a lot about you," an averaged sized light skinned man said and he offered his hand which Emily shook.

"He doesn't shut up some days," yelled out Kenny Layne chuckling, or Kenny King, as he wrapped tape around his knuckles and wrists to prepare for his match. The light skinned man smiled, waving him off.

"Don't listen to him. Kenny is just jealous," he said, chuckling. "We're all glad that you're the new girl at TNA."

"Em, this is Brandon," introduced Mark, "Low Ki on stage, fast kid." Brandon smiled proudly.

"I hope we can maybe have a storyline together or just hang out some time," offered Brandon as he looked at the clock hanging above the door, "I gotta go, Kurt wants to talk. It was nice meeting you Emily."

Brandon walked out of the door, turning a corner toward Kurt's office. There were familiar faces around Emily, some she remembered from her beginning and predebut days in WWE, but the majority of the wrestlers around her were new faces, which made unbearable nervous. But she contained it and continued to keep her face smiling brightly.

"Oh!" Exclaimed someone from behind Emily. "It's that who I think it is?" Emily turned around, in an attempt to find the source of the voice.

"Oh! It is, Emily Pierson," said another voice, just as familiar as the last. After staring at the new faces around her for some time, she discovered a familiar Southern smile. Two to be exact. She felt a smile crack onto her face as she waved.

"Hey Matt. Hi Jeff," she said politely. The Hardy brothers, Matt and Jeff Hardy were right in front of her, calling her by her name. Back in the WWE, it was hard not to hear about Emily, the powerful Diva which is why it wasn't that hard to believe that they knew her name. Other than that though, they never spoke to her. As she was beginning her career in the WWE, Jeff Hardy was in the process of ending his as he lost to CM Punk in the Steel Cage Match of 2009. Matt had taken a break from the business at this time, so his presence was rarely, if ever, seen. They never spoke to her, yet here they were smiling at her and surprised to see her as if she had known them for her whole career.

"It's been a while since we've seen another WWE face in TNA," said Matt as he walked close to her, smiling. Jeff stayed where he was, yet he smiled as well and chuckled as he said,

"We were starting to get sick of seeing Mark's face." Mark chuckled.

"Hey, you watch it Hardy." Mark said. Jeff continued to smile, moving his attention back to Emily.  
"It's nice to see a familiar face. But why are you here?"

"Yeah," Matt agreed in question, "You were amazing!" Emily shrugged, smiling.

"To be honest, I got a bit sick of it. I wanted something new." Jeff nodded, understanding completely.

"I hear ya. You'll do great here though," he said. She hoped that she did, Emily thought. Ember is going to do great in TNA, she was going to make sure of it.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! I'm sorry that it's late, I've been busy with school worK. I still hope you liked this chapter. If so, please follow the story to know about new chapters and review the story, it really motivates me to continue this story! Thank you again, have a nice day!


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